Big bucks mark year-end contract awards

Talk about a year-end rush. In the last two months of fiscal 2010, government agencies awarded six contracts with values higher than $1 billion. That's more than the rest of the year combined.

Contracts in August and September included satellite work, IT infrastructure and a broad range of IT services.

Our countdown covers awards published by Washington Technology. For the previous countdown, click here.

Let the August/September contract countdown begin.

10. Health care reform law drives $169M Verizon award

Verizon Business will help the Health and Human Services Department implement the new health care reform law by providing a variety of IT services under a $169 million Networx Universal contract.

Verizon will manage and secure the department’s IP and data networks, which provide a platform for day-to-day operations, including processing Medicare claims and providing health care on tribal lands via telemedicine. The telecommunications company will also provide an array of security capabilities, including managed firewalls, intrusion detection, and a virtual private network that enables HHS employees to securely gain remote access to information and collaborate more effectively via voice over IP, Web and videoconferencing.

9. L-3 unit wins $170M contract for manpack satcom systems

The U.S. Special Operations Command has awarded a five-year, $170 million contract to a unit of L-3 Communications for portable satellite communications systems that will give special operations forces high-speed transmission capacity for voice and data communications.

Under the contract, L-3 GCS will furnish its Panther very small aperture terminal manpack satellite communications systems and associated equipment to the command, company officials said. The systems are being deployed as part of the Special Operations Forces Deployable Node-Lite program to furnish satellite communications connectivity to forces deployed around the globe.

8. Boeing gets $182M contract for additional wideband satellite

Boeing Co. has won a $182 million follow-on contract from the Air Force as part of the continuing Wideband Global Satcom program.

Under the Block II follow-on contract, Boeing will build a seventh satellite to meet the broadband communications needs of tactical warfighters and unmanned aircraft systems. The contract covers start-up activities and the parts needed to begin production of the additional satellite.

Three Block I satellites are already operating over the Middle East, Pacific and Atlantic regions. Three additional satellites commissioned under the Block II contract are scheduled to launch in 2012 and 2013. The Block II follow-on contract ultimately will include options for production of six more satellites, the company said.

7. SAIC's $241M award calls for DLA supply chain improvements

Science Applications International Corp. will help the Defense Department improve its supply chain management as a result of a six-year prime contract from the Defense Logistics Agency that could be worth as much as $241 million.

The award from the DLA Land and Maritime office in Columbus, Ohio, specifies that SAIC will support the Anniston Army Depot in Anniston, Ala.; the Red River Army Depot in Texarkana, Texas; and U.S. military customers around the world. The depots support vehicle maintenance for the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

Under the contract, SAIC will provide collaborative demand forecasting, parts acquisition services, storage, delivery, inventory management, quality assurance, data management, field-based customer support, and order processing and fulfillment.

6. Raytheon captures pair of NASA contracts worth $1.7 billion

Raytheon Co. has won two NASA contracts for satellite systems and infrared imaging technology support that have a combined potential value of more than $1.7 billion over eight years.

The contracts were awarded by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and replace previous government awards worth $1.4 billion. The contracts are designated for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Joint Polar Satellite System, which includes satellites and sensors for next-generation civil weather and climate measurements. The system is the successor to the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System.

5. Northrop wins $2.6B DHS headquarters contract

Northrop Grumman has been tasked to lead the buildout of the IT infrastructure at DHS’ new headquarters campus on the grounds of St. Elizabeths Hospital in southeast Washington, D.C. The former psychiatric institution housed such infamous patients as John Hinckley Jr., who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan.

However, work on the contract has been thrown into limbo because the losing bidders have filed protests with the Government Accountability Office.

4. Four to compete for $2.8B IT work with Social Security

The Social Security Administration selected four contractors to compete for task orders under its $2.8 billion Information Technology Support Services Contract.

The awardees are Accenture Ltd., Computer Sciences Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts have a term of one base year and six option years.

The work to be provided includes a wide variety of technology services. It is one of the largest IT contracts awarded by a federal agency this year. In addition to performing software development and maintenance, the contractors will also create business models for exchanging electronic medical records, expand Internet services for Medicare and Supplemental Security Income applicants, and help the agency request and receive medical data automatically through health information exchanges.

3. Artel named first satellite vendor under new $5 billion contract

The General Services Administration and the Defense Information Systems Agency named Artel Inc. as the first vendor to offer satellite services under their joint $5 billion, 10-year Future Commercial Satellite Services Acquisition.

The award will allow the company to compete for task orders governmentwide. Artel is a satellite communications services contract-holder under DISA’s Defense Information System Network Satellite Transmission Service-Global (DSTS-G).

The new contract combines DOD’s soon-to-expire commercial satellite communications acquisition vehicles DSTS-G and Inmarsat and GSA’s Satcom II.

2. 30 named to $5B CDC contract

Lockheed Martin Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., Computer Sciences Corp. and Perot Systems Government Services are among the 30 federal IT contractors and other services providers named to the new 10-year, $5 billion contract from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC Information Management Services indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract will expand IT services across CDC and its affiliated groups, according to a statement from the Atlanta-based health care agency. The contract encompasses the full range of IT solutions to serve CDC’s 16,000-person workforce.

1. GeoEye, DigitalGlobe gain $7.3B in NGA contracts

GeoEye Imagery Collection Systems Inc. and DigitalGlobe Inc. won 10-year contracts to provide a range of satellite services to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency that could be worth as much as $7.35 billion combined. The contracts are part of NGA’s EnhancedView commercial imagery program.

GeoEye will provide a range of satellite services for NGA that could be worth as much as $3.8 billion if all options are exercised.

DigitalGlobe was awarded a similar contract that could be worth as much as $3.5 billion. The DigitalGlobe deal includes a service agreement of $2.8 billion to provide satellite images and $750 million for other products and infrastructure improvements.